Elise Thatcher

There has not been a sentence handed down yet for a Basalt woman charged with killing another driver. The sentencing hearing for the case is unusually long. Twenty-one year-old Indiana student Meleyna Kistner was on a road trip last August when she died on Highway 133. She and her boyfriend were on a sharp curve south of Carbondale, when they were struck by Christine Tinner, of Basalt. Tinner has pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors, both for careless driving.

Planning officials with Snowmass Village have finished their review of the latest with Base Village. Developers are proposing changes to the project, which require another round of oversight. Commissioners finalized recommendations on Wednesday for key issues to keep in mind on the project, as well as directives for what the applicant should do now.

The new owners for Krabloonik Fine Dining and Dogsledding are working out the details for their lease with the local government. The business is on Snowmass Village town property. Local animal advocates want to make sure there are specific requirements in the lease for treating the dogs well, like making sure they’re off tether more often. Aspen Public Radio’s Elise Thatcher took a look at the issue and has this story.

The City of Aspen is putting more financial safeguards in place. The move comes after an audit and Tuesday’s City Council meeting. Council wants a closer eye on money, and finances, handled by city staff. A review of what happened during a recent parking scam revealed a number of things. One was the Finance Department turned off a notification system that might have alerted everyone to the parking scam. Another was City officials couldn’t find a copy of the former parking meter contract until this week. Employees found it after digging through a Truscott storage area.

There should be a decision next week about who can move into Aspen's Old Power House. Aspen City Council heard comments from more than forty people at a meeting last night. Council is considering a handful of proposals. The Old Power House was formerly home to the Aspen Art Museum, essentially rent free. After a lengthy hearing last night, Council decided to select a new occupant next week.

Tonight the Roaring Fork School District hopes to nail down superintendent contracts for next year. The Board of Education has been working on the issue for three months. The plan is to keep current superintendent Diana Sirko for two more years, then Assistant Superintendent and Chief Academic Officer Rob Stein will become superintendent for the following three years.

Aspen City Council decided last night [Monday] to hold off for a while on changing the town’s land use code. The ordinance was drafted in response to a ballot measure calling for more oversight of development approvals. Council had come up with their own land use changes to address the same community concerns about out-of-control development. The majority of public comments Monday were against council’s ordinance or raised questions about it.

This afternoon Aspen City Council will review an audit of city finances, and take comments on who should take over the Old Power House building. The audit comes after a widespread parking scam. The review shows the parking scam cost the City more than $200,000-- much less than previously thought, because the audit assumes people who took advantage of free parking would have found a way to avoid parking in the first place, rather than paying the usual twenty eight dollars a day.